Saturday, January 1, 2011

Brazil's first female president was sworn in Saturday amid cheers and tears from supporters, many of whom followed her rise from freedom fighter brutally persecuted by the country's military junta in the 1960s to head of state.

According to the World Bank, Brazil has quickly become a major player in world politics and one the world's ten largest economies in GDP. According to the International Monetary Fund's 2011 economic outlook, Brazil's economy is expected to grow by more than 5%, faster than many developed nations, including the United States.

Her inauguration comes nearly 41 years after Rousseff was arrested and escorted in a military van to the Tiradentes Prison where, she told Brazil's congress, she was "barbarically tortured" for nearly two years.

Known as the "subversive Joan of Arc," Rousseff was tortured under Brazil's dictatorship for her activities as a left-wing guerrilla fighter in the late 1960s.